Face masks mandated for Liquor Mart employees

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This article was published 04/08/2020 (2054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp. is requiring its employees to mask up when serving customers.

Starting Thursday, non-medical face masks will be mandated for all Liquor Mart employees, a MLL spokesperson said.

While such masks have not been made mandatory for the general public in the province, casino employees were required to wear them when Winnipeg gaming facilities reopened last week.

“We have, and will, continue to evolve, expand and implement these types of initiatives as new information about COVID-19 preventative best practices becomes available,” the MLL spokesperson said Tuesday in an email to the Free Press. “The shift to mandatory masks is an example of one such measure.”

Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Michelle Gawronsky said liquor store workers were notified of the requirement over the weekend.

“The members themselves are supportive of the decision to ask employees to wear the masks at work. They recognize, I think most of us do, that we’ve all got a responsibility,” she said Tuesday.

MGEU has yet to hear any direct concerns from its members regarding the decision to require from the Crown corporation that only employees — not customers — be required to wear face masks in liquor and gaming establishments.

“I think our members… know we should be making sure we’re following the health guidelines as close as we can,” Gawronsky said.

There are no current plans from the MGEU to advocate for mandatory mask measures for customers — rather, the union’s focus will be on following recommendations set by chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin, she said.

“We would just ask the public to please respect our members, the employees, the people that are serving them at those liquor stores.”

Mandatory face-covering measures have been put into place across Canada in areas with a range of case counts. For example, Kenora, Ont., which had recorded eight COVID-19 cases so far, will require people to wear masks in enclosed public spaces starting Aug. 17.

In his routine public COVID-19 status briefings, Roussin has only suggested a recommendation Manitobans mask up indoors may come in the fall.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_